Yes, you don't need anything more complicated to win on tiny pangaea, even on sid level, that's why i don't like the idea. AW may change this a bit though, but i still don't think it'll be interesting.
If we don't want too long turnsets, why don't we just play 5CC? I've played a 5CC game recently and i really like the variant, it removes all the annoying MM, but keeps all the fun in. Don't know how 5CC AW will play, since production will be limited and we'll have to use wider spacing then usual, also all or most of our cities will be exposed, but i guess we may try it on emperor or even lower.